Thanks to Virginia, Sharon and the staff at the Vinton Public Library.  I got to visit with the young students during Weekly Story Time.  We showed how the Earth and the Sun work together to make our seasons change.  We talked about the different kinds of weather that Iowa gets at different times of the year, and we learned about thunder and lightning by reading the book “Thundercake” (one of my favorites!)  By the way, when you visit Vinton this summer, make sure to stop at the library.  It’s a great place to spend some time and unwind with a good book.

Vinton Public Library

Click here to see the children saying hello!

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Late afternoon thunderstorms produced a very impressive shelf cloud on June 18th.  Shelf clouds, also called arcus clouds,  form along the leading edge of thunderstorms.  Shortly after this shelf cloud passed over, the temperature fell and heavy rain began falling. 

Shelf cloud

Looking toward the West

Looking toward the North

Click here to see Shelf Cloud video

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The past couple weeks have brought tremendous amounts of rain to many parts of Iowa.  The trend has been for the Northeastern counties to be a bit drier, while much of Southern Iowa has been very wet.  A nearly-stationary front has been close by for several days, and that has been the focus for the heavy downpours.  Many counties in Southern Iowa have had three to four times the normal amount of rain!  This wetter-than-normal pattern may continue for some time to come.  The medium range weather outlook includes above normal precipitation through June 28th.

8-14 day precipitation outlook ending June 28

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